Sex and Computer Programmers

For years I have been wondering why women opted out of the computer programming field around the 1970s. When I started in the field in 1961, the best programmers tended to be women. And they were not 'condemned' to being 'only' a programmer. I worked under a couple of women managers and directors in the 1960s. It was a field that desperately needed talent and welcomed it no matter from whence it came. But, then, at some point you did not see many women in the field. I could never understand why they left - the pay was good, the job was interesting, you were working in an area that would likely change the world and there was little physical labor. I still can't understand it.

I was spurred to write this post after reading an article, "When computer programming was ‘women’s work’" in the Washington Post. The author, Anna Lewis, never really answers my question. She speculates that NASA was at fault in that she believes that men dominated that world. Yet, I can recall meeting some women working at quite responsible jobs in the space program work at MIT.